Moscow - SANA
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Western countries have failed to hit his country's economy, pointing out that Russia's GDP continues to grow sequentially and regularly.
Putin said during the launch of the Eurasian Economic Forum today under the slogan "Eurasian integration in a multipolar world": "The volume of participation in the Eurasian Economic Forum embodies the importance of the Eurasian Union in the current world, as all participating countries seek balanced relations based on the principle of mutual interests."
Putin added: "There are deep and fundamental changes at the global level, and many countries are moving to strengthen their national sovereignty according to an independent approach," noting that many countries of the world, such as India and China, have begun to move to dealing in national currencies, which reduces the risk of threats to financial reserves and promotes apolitical economic work, and therefore anyone who defends unipolarity harms the global economy.
In this context, Putin stressed that Russia has always taken a responsible and conscious approach to interaction with all countries, and has taken a path to reduce financial dealings with unfriendly countries and increase it with other countries through national currencies, pointing out that Russia is holding talks on the establishment of free zones with Iran, the UAE and Egypt, as well as with Serbia.
Putin pointed out that Russia welcomes anyone who wants to deal with it on the basis of pragmatism and mutual interests, as it has all the experience and cadres to maintain competition at the global level, as well as maintain technical and economic independence.
Putin said that the West is trying to "pressure the countries of the Eurasian Union through sanctions and blackmail methods in order not to cooperate with Russia, and we, for our part, fully implement all our agreements and obligations," referring in this regard to the explosion of the "Northern Stream" gas pipelines and to the closure of Poland and Ukraine gas pipelines despite Russia's provision of gas to Europe and Kiev's access to transit revenues.
Putin noted cooperation with BRICS, Shanghai and other organizations in Asia, Latin America and Africa, in addition to dealing closely with China, stressing that the Belt and Road Initiative will facilitate dealing with countries close to the Eurasian region, whether in the East, Africa or Latin America, which is the locomotive of the global economy through the emergence of transportation routes.
On the other hand, Putin pointed out that the construction of the "North-South" railway route will contribute to the development of trade in this direction, will allow the transit of 30 million tons of goods annually, strengthen traditional trade routes and help the emergence of industrial and commercial centers along this route.
The forum is accompanied by the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, which will be attended by the leaders of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union "Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan" and observer countries, and the forum will discuss the implementation of various projects and issues of international activity of the Union and the expansion of trade and economic ties, and President Putin will hold a series of individual meetings with the leaders of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union and the countries invited to attend the summit.
It is noteworthy that the Eurasian Economic Union was established in early 2015 on the basis of the customs union that existed at the time between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, and later joined by Armenia and Kyrgyzstan in the same year.
The Union's agreements guarantee to all its members the free movement of goods, services, capital and labour and the adoption of an agreed policy in the sectors of trade, energy, industry, agriculture and transport.
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